Liar Liar (English)

I think one of the funnier scenes I've scene in recent times is the scene from Liar Liar where Jim Carrey has to say out what his opinion is about a big boss in the Law firm. Alas, he cannot lie that whole day...so he has to speak the truth. Truth he spake! :-)
The whole room of lawyers is rolling with laughter at the end of the scene (and so are you) thanks to all the insults Carrey is throwing.
The last I laughed so much was with Analyze that.

The movie itself is a classy, a gem among all the broo-ha-ha Carrey has attempted.
Go watch it! Two-thumbs up (or whatever those Ebert and Roeper say)

Anybody seen 'Kyoki mai jhooth nahi bol sakta'? I bet it wouldn't have been this funny and touching at the same time.

Stumble (English/Kannada)

IMDB link: Stumble

aahh....Sheer brilliance!!!

As Rajat put it to me a couple of days ago 'Madhu - take a break from all these movies dude!!! but wait on second thoughts you are seeing sensible stuff'
You bet ...this is one of the most intelligent movies I've seen in some time.
Screenplay - meticulously crafted
Actors - Aptly chosen
Acting - Delivered as if they were living their lives
Dialogues - No moment inappropriate, although making an English movie with Kannada actors can be a double edged sword.
Direction - Does anybody who has seen Garva and other creations by Prakash Belawadi need a second opinion??

Kudos to Anant Nag and everybody else in this venture...I felt like I was watching one of those Shankar Nag movies again, (particularly Accident) the screen dazzling with intelligence, but not losing the audience with high-headedness ever. Note the use of typical south indian accents, the pun on Business and management lingo, and the various other pot-shots. It's dark, it's funny and ultimately very realistic....

A pity it did not get noticed by the cynical unconcerned audience around us, who can get anything in their way of watching and appreciating movies ...from language barriers, to presence of not-so-popular stars, to non-mainstream themes.
Well not that I care much....only that it might be tough for you to find. I also felt the writers were never un-realistic in the portrayal of the SW and ITES industries and all the hype around it. Wonder how they are so informed..

I think i'll write this into a CD and keep it with me, in the fear that I may never find a rental of this movie or may never catch it on a channel..
The only downside is maybe the length of the movie, could have been a bit more crisp.
Congrats to Mr. Belawadi on the movie, and congrats on the 2003 Silver Lotus Award too!

ps: HEY GUESS WHAT I HEAR SOON AFTER THE START OF THE MOVIE..THEY ARE FIRING 'MADHU' IN THE MOVIE....MADHU RAO !!!! :-) Pallavi Dattu plays Madhu Rao in the movie .. heh.

Article on Puttanna Kanagal

Kannada chalana chitra abhimaanigaLige:

ee lekhana odi. Puttanna avara pratiyondu chitrada bagge maahiti illide.

illi clickisi

A Clockwork Orange (English)

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066921/

Have you ever come across a movie that claims to be Witty, funny, satirical, political, thrilling, frightening, metaphorical, sardonic, exciting, bizzarre - all these things at the same time? That should be a Crazy movie right?

You said it eh,brother!!!

Let me start another way....Have you come across a movie that 'seems' so revolting that you want to *actually* throw up? (Or was it only me when I "attempted" to see this movie the first time)

Well some say Stanley Kubrick was a genius and another equal number of some say he is a nutcase. I finally saw the whole movie yesterday and I would think if there was ever a thin line between cinematic genius and lunacy - lo behold - it's Stanley Kubrick !!

Click here for the Trailer

The trailer itself, to start with, is of a kind which I've never encountered before. 100's of stills and sequences from the movie all juxtaposed with each other in intervals of milliseconds and also interspersed with the adjectives I listed earlier; Ludwig Van Beethovan's symphony topping it off as the background music. Quite novel indeed.

If these have not piqued your curiosity to watch the movie first thing after you are done reading, then I shall go ahead and write about the movie.
I will not leave any spoilers here, but will WARN ALL YOU BROTHERS READING THAT THIS MOVIE IS STRICTLY NOT FOR ALL TASTES

Malcolm McDowell plays Alex DeLarge. Alex and his droogs, whom he calls brothers, embarke on a night of the old ultra-violence and are generally running amok spreading terror in the city. The first half of the movie is *SO* graphic and in your face that you may decide not wanting to have anything to do with this rotten movie!

The movie really begins after that frightful night passes. Kubrick's premise is simple 'Do not punish criminals, because after a certain point they might enjoy the punishment. Instead, reform them.' Sounds a simple deal doesn't it? Well, it's the exact suggested mechanism that .............

That said, there is a point in the movie where you start resonating with the central idea that the director wants to point out. At that point you also start wondering about how the weird colours, the loud dialogue delivery, the choice of Beethoven's mesmerising music to form a strong part of the movie in SUCH a bizzarre way - all these aspects enhance the story telling, and whether you want to admit or not, it's brilliance in film making.
VERY VERY WEIRD and FREAKY but still brilliant. The music is as haunting as is the performance of our "humble narrator" played by Malcolm McDowell.

So if you are game for the old fashioned ultra-violence, and the in-out in-outs (!!!) and all the large scale vandalism, then don't miss this movie ...
Nope not the intention to scare you. All said and done, this is a creative movie and should be seen as one (albeit told in a highly sardonic tone).

My Wife's Murder (Hindi)

IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0451824/

'Jab loha garam hai, toh maar do hathoda'
What can be better than a movie review as soon as you're done with the movie?!

End credits running up in my TV here, and I'm sitting down to write about a movie which I feel did not get its due credit. A realistic, no-nonsense effort by 'The Factory' and one of the most sincere efforts by a lead Actor in Bollywood that I've observed in recent times.

RGV and thrillers, need not beat the bush here. No introductions needed about how well he works with this genre. Although there have been some forgettables and take my word for it, you'll come out thinking this is not one.

Ravi Patwardhan, played or rather very well under-played by Anil Kapoor, is a film editor with problems in his married life. His wife Sheela, played effectively by Suchitra Krishnamurthy, suspects that Ravi has something going on with his assistant Reena. Reena's role is played by Nandana Sen who looks pretty but in my opinion fails to deliver the goods, mainly due to her accent. (Why O whyyyy does RGV have this craving for regional actors speaking on their own??? What happened to that age old practice called Dubbing...I mean creativity is one thing, but distracting the audience with 'supposed-to-be-creativity' is not done. Eg: Mohan lal in Company ..hee hee. It's not as bad as that here)

In the first few minutes of the movie, the director establishes the main plot which is the murder, starting with subtle hints like Ravi editing a murder movie, and such..soon sheela is shown as an over suspiscious wife who is finicky about everything the husband does. Soon there are significant altercations and Ravi becomes cause for his Wife's murder!!!
Well NO this is not a spoiler, what were you expecting with a name like 'My Wife's murder'?
It's the skill with which RGV's team (director Jijy Philip and writer Atul Sabharwal) and Anil carry the rest of the movie ahead, that's noteworthy. I did not find too many spots where the audience is lost.

I think Anil deserves 10 on 10 for his performance. If you notice, Anil has a lot of his trademark mannerisms over the years (Tezaab, Mr. India, Raam Lakhan, Beta, Taal etc etc) that invariably gets into every performance of his, be it his dancing, his emoting, his happy moments - every aspect of his acting. Lately he has been *trying* to experiment with his acting and has been successful to a certain extent. I really loved him in 'Nayak:The Real Hero' although there were several of his cliched acting moments. You can almost mimic his acting.



NOT HERE - OH my god does he pull off a wonderful role? The way he underplays Ravi Patwardhan - somebody who is sincere but at the same time deceitful, one who doesn't let the audience see through him - is commendable.

Is this a remake of a Malayalam movie? I remember hearing that somewhere, if yes please let me know. Strangely Anil seems to pull off some remakes well (Virasat, Nayak) He does full justice to the ending, and I'm curious to see the original.

Now did you think 'Alright here is a blog of a desi guy who's gone weird he is hung up on Hollywood movies....shucks what a waste of such good talent' ;-) Nope ...it's just that I hadn't seen a Bollywood movie from some time (and certainly not any that made an impact on me) so I hadn't written.

In other cast, Boman Irani does really well..he seems so comfortable in the role of the cocky suspicious Inspector. I think RGV gang feels like 'choDna mat!!! pakde rehna!!!!' towards highly talented actors like Boman.
What else? Oh yea no songs ..so all the more effective.
Go watch it friend, unless you want me to be the cause of 'My Friends murder'!!!!

Naaaaahhhhhhh :-)

One Hour Photo (English)

IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0265459/



One word:
CREEPY

Oh my god...This movie is creepy!

Robin Williams plays a guy at the local one hour photo studio, who at first appears to be the most normal, nice and sweet guy but as the movie develops............Watch it!

I should tell you what a wonderfully contained performance that is, especially for Williams who is such a tank full of all kind of strange and weird funny moments and jokes bursting out all the time. The DVD had a 'Charlie Rose' interview of the actor and the director of this movie (and man ...did he make Charlie laugh silly till he cried heh) and the interview was full of hilarious impressions that Williams was throwing around and all the jokes he was making up as improvisations. I wonder how he can also turn in such a serious and creepy performance.
Well yes, he has been known to do it recently: Insomnia, a thief-cop story also starring Al Pacino in which Williams plays the baddie, and apparently others like Death to smoochy and The Final Cut. Final Cut came later. Death to smoochy is on my list of must watch now.
Will suffice to say...Robin Williams is an unbelievable artist. He is a hilarious improvisationist, a very matured character artist, a comedian beyond belief...he is all-in-one! Truly amazing...

The DVD caption said, One hour Photo does to snapshots what Psycho did to showers Well ...thats kinda misleading, but yes, I was chilled in a similar way when I watched Psycho. Can't compare since Psycho is a masterpiece...but One hour photo delivers the goods although kinda misses the mark towards the end.

Analyse this and that .... (English)

Back after some time, this time to review a bunch of movies....I am setting out NOT to review a particular movie but all the (dozen odd) movies I saw from the past 2-3 weeks (and maybe more as I remember) ....so I'm here to write abt any and every movie I can remember :-) howzzat..

Let's start by Analyse this and Analyse that I'd watched '...this' earlier but hadn't watched '...that'. I thought Analyse this was pretty funny throughout with both Billy Crystal and Robert De niro doing ace jobs with their comic outings. 'You'll have a good time' kinda movie with some hilarious moments..
Analyse That slightly disappointed overall ...that said, there were some moments which I just had to re-wind (it was a VHS!) and catch again :-)) Major funny haa-haa hee-hee kinda comedy but Crystal and De-niro are awesome in those couple of scenes.
Quoting our review guru Mr.Berardinelli, 'It's ironic that one of the best comedic performances given this year comes not from noted funnymen Robin Williams, Jim Carrey, or Adam Sandler (all of whom are spending time exploring serious acting), but from dramatic actor Robert De Niro. As was the case in Analyze This, the primary reason to see the movie is De Niro, whose deadpan lampoon of his gangster image is Analyze That's high point.'
Go watch it but you might get bored in the latter part (esp if you've seen the earlier funnier part)
Analyze That - IMDB
See the funny part is this ...De niro is in prison continuing from the first part, and he senses somebody is trying to kill him. So he acts as a bumbling oaf who alternately performs from 'West side story' or becomes Catatonic. So Psychiatrist Billy Crystal is called upon who has to 'test' him...giggle..

Reminded here of 'Awakenings' when I wrote Catatonic...to think that De niro is the Catatonic in both cases and the latter is such a serious movie, in stark contrast. Also doing a very serious role, of a Psychiatrist, is Robin Williams in this.

Hmm lets see, other movies...aah yea The Negotiator made in 98 with Samuel Jackson and Kevin Spacey, my-god-amazing actors both of them. Watch this as a further testimonial as the edge of the seat thriller leads you into terrific acting by both actors giving out gritting stuff! I think Kevin Spacey is in top-form!


Two movies I enjoyed watching a lot and were kinda similar were 'Blast from the Past' and 'Kate and Leopold'. 'Kate ...' really is more charming and enjoyable thanks to the charming Hugh Jackman and the ah-so-pretty Meg Ryan. The former however is very very funny :-D thanks to a the title phenomenon Brendan Fraser (some of dialogues and situations are major LOL!! It's how a 35 year old man who has grown up literally underground all his life has to go 'up' to find himself a girl) Speaking of the girl, its cutie-pie Alicia Silverstone...just too damn cute :")

That reminds how my friend here Rajat was drooling over new Latina sensation Paz Vega. Well she is a hottie! Not too bad in acting too, case in point 'Spanglish' starring Adam Sandler and Paz Vega, which I watched yesterday thinking it was a comedy but to my surprise was not. Talk of a surprise, Sandler deserves an ovation for this dramatic performance. Some nice romantic moments in the movie too...is our Billy Madison taking his career seriously?!

What else what else...aahhh!!! Psycho If you are looking for a recommendation from me frm this review and if you have not watched this yet, then first go get it! and for best effects start watching it alone at your home starting after 11 in the night :o) No really, it has a couple of chilling ones! you might find some of the scenes predictable, but still very good.
Then caught on by this deliberate effort to 'thrill' myself, I go and get 'The Exorcist' Sadly it did not scare me ...sigh. It was more like a documentary on the technical mechanisms, if you may, that priests would use to exorcise ghosts. The ghost itself was pretty scary, although it only made my movie watching a disgusting experience.

For all these classics, I can imagine how shocking these were when they were released, but for us now a ghost in a child's body is like 'oh please move-over' Will ya?

Other movies I saw over the past couple of weeks were: Rising Sun (Very good thriller with some ethnic flavors thrown in. Ace acting by Sean Connery), Sleepless in Seattle (It's all sweet and mushy but come-on!! They dont meet till the end and then suddenly they are soul mates. Not something some of us looking-for-logic appreciate), Mrs. Doubtfire again (The last 30 minutes is some of the best comedy in Hollywood history!) Unforgiven ( What a movie!! Especially Gene Hackman's deliciously evil villain role and the ending!!Talk about such a thread-bare story being turned into an oscar winner) Serendipity (I liked this better than Sleepless in Seattle, a good example of a romantic movie) and Alfie (Amazing playboy role by Michael Caine. The movie is funny at times, sad at times. Caine was ridiculed for his heavy british accent in this 'comedy)

There were surely others I can't recollect.. oh yea Herbie Fully loaded, Mr.Mom (both starring Micheal Keaton, a talented actor)

In the pipeline for the week: Batman starring Micheal Keaton, Reservoir Dogs and Birdcage.

Cheerio!

AFI 100 years series

Stumbled upon this link that every movie fan should look at once:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AFI_100_Years..._series

AFI's top 100 movies by the way are the list of 100 best American movies to come out of Hollywood. So if you are wondering where to start from, as far as movie watching goes, then maybe a peek here will do you good! (Although, not surprisingly, there are a lot of classic movies in the list)

I agree with Citizen Kane as the number 1 of the list. Go see that movie, but be patient!
Also check out the 100 most popular dialogues from AFI...

Wall Street (English)

Movie: Wall Street
Starring: Michael Douglas, Charlie Sheen (of 'Hot shots' fame), Martin Sheen
IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094291/

What according to you, is an 'intelligent' movie?
Do you know what I mean?

Most movies are saying what they have to say ....spewing nonsense, in that process, at times. Most dont really respect your intellect as a discerning viewer.
(Some might argue though, that your intelligence does not matter in movies - people connect to certain movies based on their upbringing /their circumstances of life)

What I was trying to hint was that the movie 'Wall Street' moves on a certain different plane. It's got mystery, drama, deceit, action, emotions but never compromising the baselines of reality and technical truths.

Michael Douglas plays Gordon Gekko, a mean corporate big-shot prowler....and plays it deliciously (!!). Charlie Sheen is Bud Fox, a young small-time broker in the wall street stock markets and wants to make it big. The movie,in short, is how he gets trapped in Gekko's web, thanks to his greed to make it big - this way or that way. Gekko on the other hand has his agenda clear, which the director establishes slowly but clearly, and hence finds the perfect sacrificial lamb in Fox. What follows is a dangerous game - so watch the movie to see the result of the game!

The dialogue delivery and enactment by Gekko at many places is electrifying to say the least. Michael Douglas, although eventually has become popular for his adult thrillers, displays here a rare talent of playing the viscious scorpion extremely well. I LOVED EVERY MOMENT HE WAS ON SCREEN. One could watch the movie just for him. The role goes beyond an ordinary villainous portrayal, and the dialogues blend their way (like 'Greed is GOOD!') into everyday American Corporate Rhetoric. Take a look at this! This is a popular scene of the movie with some brilliant acting by Douglas.

Another movie of Douglas I liked a lot was 'The Game' for his *honest* portrayal of what emotions his character in the movie undergoes. (By the way, quiz time! The ending of The Game was recently 'flicked' by a popular Bollywood blockbuster. Do you know which? :) )

Another interesting relationship portrayed in the movie is the reel father-son relationship of real life father-son Martin and Charlie Sheen. Full points!
What you can't miss is the passion the director shows for capturing the intricate details of the stock markets and how he presents them so that it does not become completely an over-head transmission.

I was watching this movie 'Shikhar' starring Ajay Devgan and Shahid Kapoor the other day. Devgan plays GG (Gaurav Gupta) a builder out to take over a large amount of land to build his own empire. Just GG sounds fishy?! During half way I was convinced this was an attempted subtle remake of 'Wall Street' :-) by John Matthew Matthan. Both are about GREED! The place where Matthan fails is the editing and the climax clearly is 'specially ordered for Bollywood' - alas!

Watch the original - Wall Street - for some hi-fi politico-emotional stuff.

More suggested reading: Forbes Fictional fifteen

Added in 2011: 'Wall Street - Money Never Sleeps' - what was that all about!?

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (English)

Movie: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid
Starring: Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Katherine Ross.
IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064115/



People who follow classics will either a) have seen this movie several times and came to like it a lot or b) Have heard much talk about it and want to watch it at the first opportunity they can grab the dvd!

I was in the b) category till a week back. Wanted to watch this oscar winning movie and a hollywood urban legend badly. Also being a new fan of Paul Newman after watching his Hustler I was at a new eagerness.

Then I saw this ad saying they will air 'The Sting' on AMC on 15th and had to run!! That's because Butch cassidy was followed by an equally popular and acclaimed sequel called the Sting 4 years later (1973) and won multiple oscars too (A feat only paralleled by the Godfather series) Newman and Redford have since gone on to become one of the most talked about male co-star pairs in Hollywood. In fact Redford says this movie 'made' his life and career.

A movie about two train robbers who have become a legend. The blue-eye guy does all the thinking and the blondie just eats-shoots-leaves! :-) So much so that the train pilot lets go saying 'Who else would I allow robbing my train than you Mr. Cassidy?!' So they go around robbing trains and banks and the story goes so on and on. Whats so phenomenal about it, you might ask. So did I, to myself. Soon I had realised the director's motive. The dialogue and the story telling makes this movie one of the lightest westerns ever. There hardly is a serious moment in the movie; not even when you would think 'oh shoot now what do they do!?'. So relax, sit back and enjoy as the confident Butch kindles the silent 'kid' to keep going.
When there is actually a serious moment, LOOK it crept on you and you dint notice!

I'll never forget the effect the ending had on me - no fun in telling you though. So go watch it.

Some of the most hilarious moments in the movie according to me were:
- The intro scene of sundance kid in the bar where butch and the kid take 'panga' with some jerk of a guy
- The scene where butch and sundance 'dive' :=D
- Definitely, the scenes in Bolivia. Specially the bank robbing scenes.
Several other cheeky dialogues and scenes make it an exaggeratedly stylish western 'flick', a flick in the real sense.

Come back and tell me where else in Bollywood you felt strong influences from this movie. Easy guess - and you are right!

What's that song you hear, when you call Hutch for some pain they have caused you, and they put you on hold for many minutes?
Ah, I'm gonna leave this blog with just that song in my mind. If you din't know, BJ Thomas composed this very popular soundtrack for 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid'. Apparently sold a million copies! The movie's an ultra-light experience, as light as this song.

Raindrops keep fallin' on my head
And just like the guy whose feet are too big for his bed,
Nothin' seems to fit
Those raindrops are fallin' on my head, they keep fallin'

La lla la laa...la laa